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Phone use behind the wheel needs shock treatment

11th July 2017

Not even the thought of causing an accident appears to be enough for some drivers to permanently break the habit of illegally using a handheld phone at the wheel, says the RAC.

Be Phone Smart campaign has found 60% of drivers said causing an accident would make them stop for good, the RAC is surprised the figure is not significantly higher given that the consequences can be so severe in terms of the impact on human life.

When given a range of scenarios which might make a driver immediately stop using a mobile phone illegally, being personally responsible for causing an accident came top, followed by being caught or the threat of being caught by a police officer (55% and 54% respectively), knowing the victim of an accident where handheld phone use was a factor (54%), and causing a near-miss (53%).

The findings suggest a sizeable minority of drivers still do not see anything wrong with using a handheld phone illegally because they believe they are not likely to cause an accident or be stopped by the police.